We are between paradigms, moving from the old paradigm of “disconnection,” to “connection”, to recognizing that happiness of everyone is the interdependence of all beings, moving past polarized thinking of us vs. them, right vs. wrong and a sense of “other” and realizing we live in a global world where there are no borders (except for people). If I use an iPhone, I am supporting not just Apple, but all factory conditions for Apple’s suppliers in China, and it is my responsibility to know what is happening to those workers. Since water cartwheels around the earth in the form of rainclouds, the Fukushima plant in Japan has effected kelp in the California seacoast which in turn feeds the fish and the ecosystem here. We are all metaphorically holding hands in a world that has no borders.

The old paradigm would be for me to “borrow off tomorrow” to pay for today, and to only see my backyard, but we can no longer “externalize the costs” onto other people, our forests, our oceans, as we are all sharing a planet and having to act with empathy.